


She’s Gone (I know you’re still in there)

by ChippedCat



Series: The Vessel AU [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (sort of), Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Brainwashing, Chipped Catra (She-Ra), Episode: s05e05 Save The Cat, F/F, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Prime!Catra, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:49:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChippedCat/pseuds/ChippedCat
Summary: Convinced that she’s dead, the Best Friend Squad returns to Etheria without Catra. However, without her influence, Adora fails to forge a stable connection with She-Ra, and Prime destroys the planet. With most of her friends gone and an empty heart left in their wake, Adora is consumed by a need for revenge, intent on hunting Prime to the edges of the universe and destroying his mysterious “new form” before he can hurt anyone else.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: The Vessel AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088624
Comments: 12
Kudos: 85
Collections: Chipped Catra Fics





	She’s Gone (I know you’re still in there)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! ChippedCat here. I'm a longtime fanfic reader, first-time fanfic writer. I'm excited to show off what I wrote for the world, so I hope you enjoy it. Please leave Kudos and a comment so I can improve for next time. Plot point nitpicks, headcanons related to the story, possible grammar issues, generally nice compliment, or genuine questions, all are welcome. Not flames, please. I'm just a fandom author, same as you. Mistakes should be pointed out politely and if you hated the story I don't need to know.  
> Anyway, this is a story I had kicking around in my head for a while. I am lowkey obsessed with Chipped Catra (hence my name) and wanted to explore what the world would be like if she stuck around a little while longer. I love the She-Ra canon as much as anyone but Chipped Catra deserves to exist for more than a single episode and there aren't enough fics with her in them, so here you go.  
> Be aware that this story is set in a world where Etheria was destroyed, so not many of our favorite main characters are gonna be floating around. No one dies on screen and only one death is directly mentioned, (another is kind of implied) but just be warned. (I killed Glimmer. I’m sorry, though some of you may not be too sad about that)

_ "Perhaps I will make her my new vessel" _

Bow started to cry after three days. He didn't cry for just a few hours, or a week, or a month. He never really stopped crying. Adora knew he never would, but she hoped that the day she returned, stained with green blood and beaming from her victory, that he would at least smile. That, among other things, kept her going. Love fueled her in many ways. Her love for Bow and desire to give him a brief respite from his pain warmed her heart and preserved her humanity. But she also fought because of twisted love, lost love. Her lust for revenge was just as strong as her desire to help Bow. Somedays, it was stronger. Vengeance warmed her whole body, though Adora knew deep down that it was fleeting. It would leave her cold after Prime's vessel lay decimated. She was okay with that.

Adora's vengeance was, for the most part, constructive. She freed dozens, maybe hundreds, of Horde-occupied planets in her search for Prime. It was an art she had boiled down to a science. Once the transporters were destroyed and Prime's resident forces vanquished, the world was effectively liberated. Any reinforcements that Prime sent without the transports were easily manageable by the planet's defenses. Liberating worlds slowly lost its sense of satisfaction, but Adora did it anyway. Anything to stop what happened to her from happening to anyone else. Seeing cheering crowds and large statues of herself grew old fast, but a pair of lovers embracing brought her both joy and anguish. It was nice to feel both emotions. Any break from the simmering rage was enough for her.

When she wasn't at work saving galaxies, Adora was tracking. Everywhere she went, she asked about Prime. Few people knew anything but one world inhabited solely by Magicats (a particularly challenging place for her) offered her a clue. Their leader, a tall woman with dark fur and piercing eyes, had intercepted a transmission from one clone squadron previously occupying the planet. Prime's ship was in the Retributus system while he stamped out a particularly nasty rebellion headed by the Star Siblings. Adora was already mapping the way in her head, but the leader offered a word of caution before she left. 

Prime didn't leave his ship often, but the few times he did, people took note of his new vessel, one not formed from a clone body. The Magicat leader warned her to be vigilant. When Adora arrived in Retributus, no one could tell her about the new vessel. It killed anyone who saw it up close. Adora wrote the new body off as a vanity project of Prime's and put it out of her mind. It didn't matter what he looked like. Prime was a terrible virus and whatever host he infected needed to be purged with him.

She didn't think about the vessel again until she was strutting through the halls of his ship, She-Ra's massive feet banging decisively on the white tiled floor. Accessing She-Ra without the sword had been a challenge that had taken too long to overcome. How long, Adora wasn’t quite sure. Every world had a different way of keeping time and none of them resembled Etherian time. Adora was one of a few beings in the universe who used primitive measurements like "years" anymore. Still, she clung to her old ways the best she could out of nostalgia, instead of adapting. In a way, accessing She-Ra was the same. Adora could easily topple Prime's thin-spread forces on any of his controlled planets. Yet, she would rather use She-Ra out of respect for a fallen rebellion that truly needed She-Ra but in the end couldn't get to her. By the time Adora and She-Ra reconnected, it was too late for Etheria. In honor of Adora’s shattered world, they had saved many other planets together. 

The sword in her hand dripped green as she stepped over another decimated clone. Adora was sure to remove any possibility of Prime jumping into a clone and surprising her. She wanted to best him in his new form, the one people couldn't describe but knew to fear based on what it left behind. She was almost excited by the prospect. Today, she would either walk back to Darla triumphant or lay bleeding on the ground with her victims. Over the years, both options had become equally satisfactory. 

“What’s the plan, old friend?” Adora asked herself. She sometimes spoke to She-Ra as though the warrior were a completely separate being, just to have someone to talk to. Adora wasn’t sure if she was She-Ra or if She-Ra was a distinct being sharing her body. Maybe Adora was just going crazy after so long consumed by grief. Still, crazy or otherwise, She-Ra devised plans herself on occasion. She had many incarnations and more knowledge than Adora could ever absorb. When Adora needed an answer, it appeared in her head like magic. If She-Ra truly was a separate being, she was certainly a beneficial parasite. An inkling of old knowledge started to form in Adora’s head until it dissipated when she became suddenly distracted.

Adora stopped in front of an ornate bedroom with a single green wall. This was the cell Glimmer had sat in before she took an energy cannon to the chest and took Bow's heart with her.  _ Glimmer was here,  _ she thought to herself.  _ Alive. Maybe this was the cell Ca- _ Adora winced. She couldn't go there. Not right now. But as she tried to stop her thoughts from wandering where they only went during her darkest nights, Adora spotted something on the bed. 

Prime left her a gift. A dark, terrible gift that signaled he knew she would track down his ship and stop at that cell to ruminate quickly. On the white bed was a neatly folded red jumpsuit, a scarlet mask sitting atop it. Those were _Her_ clothes. Adora swallowed hard. How long had they sat there, waiting for her to walk by and be taunted? The mask was cracked in half. Was She wearing it when She-

The Sword of Protection slashed through the wall next to the cell, Adora screeching violently. Remnant green blood dripped from the gouge as if the walls were bleeding. She wanted them to. She wanted this whole ship to suffer for being the thing to snuff out her light. She decided then killing Prime wasn't enough. Before she left, she'd find a way to blow the entire ship to smithereens. The idea made her smile. With that happy thought, she willed herself to not look back at what Prime had left her and continued her path of decimation towards the throne room.

"Prime." The two attendant clones looked startled, but Prime's chair didn't turn around. He waved his hand a little, the appendage too backlit by his enormous screen to make out, and the clones charged, quickly meeting the business end of She-Ra's sword. Prime didn't react to their wails. Adora hated that. She came all this way for him to think two mere clones could defeat her? He should know better. After all, she killed his last vessel. This one would be even easier with She-Ra's help. "I came all this way. At least put up a little fight before I run you through again." she challenged.

"Ah, I see you've finally arrived," Prime spoke with an air of lightness to his tone. He wasn't taking this seriously. He'd regret that.

As he spoke, Adora remembered the last time she's heard his voice. She had driven her sword, a borrowed weapon from Sea Hawk he didn't need anymore, into his chest and leered down at him. But Prime's "last words" were just a watery laugh. _You think you've won_? His voice grated on her, even after so long. _I'll be reborn, better than ever. And this time, you won't be able to destroy me._ Then, his eyes had emptied and Adora knew Prime was gone instead of dead. She had meant to kill him, but she hadn't even slowed him down. Etheria still crumpled, her friends frantically trying to evacuate civilians with nowhere for them to go. While she was trying to be selfless like always and help, Bow knocked her out, and when she woke up, she was on Darla, Etheria, nothing but rocks floating among the stars. To this day, she still wasn't sure who made it and who didn't. She didn't care to know.

"Waiting for me?" Adora asked confidently. She'd seen his present. He was clearly anticipating her arrival. He liked to think he saw everything, so something as noticeable as Adora plowing through the planets he ruled was likely to draw attention.

"Yes, for a long time. In fact, you're several Etherian years late." His chair started to rotate towards her. “You were supposed to return after retrieving the queen.”

“And why would I have done that?” _It was already too late for Her. There was no reason to come back to retrieve a body_.

“I was hoping that you would come looking for a deal. I had something I assumed you'd want, after all. But you choose to cling to the darkness instead of accepting my extended hand and coming to the light."

"Your light is nothing I want a part of." Adora seethed. Too many good people were 'brought to the light' in the past few years. "Besides, the time for deals is gone. I came here for a fight and I won't leave until you're gone for good. Now show me this new form you're so proud of." She steeled herself for whatever was so horrible that no one dared speak of it. She could almost see him now as the chair slowly turned to the front.

"Oh, dear child. So long in the dark has blinded you. But I am still merciful. I have awaited your return so that you may see what my light truly looks like." The chair stopped, and Adora's sword clattered to the ground, dissolving and leaving her in her vulnerable form.

"No." her voice quivered and her eyes shrunk down to the size of pins. She sank to her knees as Catra stood up from the throne, looking down at her. 

"Hello, Adora." Her tone was the same mocking one as Prime's, but it was undeniably her voice. Catra's voice. A sound Adora never thought she'd hear again. "It's so nice to see you again."

Catra's ear twitched as she watched Adora, a signature habit of when she was stalking prey. Even though the rest of her wardrobe, made up of that strange white cloth draped over her like a curtain, was so unlike her usual style, she still didn't wear shoes. Adora didn't remember the last time she saw Catra, likely on the battlefield somewhere before she retreated to the Fright Zone to take up work solely as a strategist. Catra was older, but still looked the same as she had so long ago, sounded the same as she did while screaming apologies from star systems away over an intercom. Yet, the moment she smiled, something about the image shattered. Adora knew it wasn't really Catra.

Horde Prime's green-pupiled eyes, all four of them, looked at Adora with cold amusement that would never be in Catra's gaze. She was passionate and fiery about everything she did. Her signature mane was sheared and filled with wires that connected somewhere into her back. Her mannerisms were all Horde Prime's, from her smile to the way she held herself. Catra thought highly of herself, but she never stood as though she expected all other beings to bow before her without question. There was so much grandeur in everything Prime did and in Catra's body, it looked very wrong. 

"What did you do to her?" Adora tried to sound righteously angry, but it sounded more like a broken whimper. Catra's face twisted into Prime's smile. 

"I made her anew, saved her from the terrible inner turmoil she struggled with for so long. When I required a return of the favor, she lent me the only thing she had to offer." Prime descended the stairs and took Adora's chin in Catra's hand, forcing her to stare into the cold green eyes. Prime's eyes, so foreign on Catra's face. "She knew peace during her time with me, and now she is a part of the eternal light, just like Etheria and all your little rebel friends."

"Let her go. Now." Adora was aware of how unthreatening she was, on her knees before the puppeteer jerking her oldest friend around like a toy. Prime laughed humorlessly, another foreign sound from Catra's mouth. 

"As I said, I brought her peace. If you wanted her for yourself, you would have returned for her." Adora winced at Prime's words. "I was prepared to make a deal if only you had reached out. I thought you'd come for your pet, but it seems I misjudged your loyalty. Perhaps I should have known. So much love was lost between you."

"Shut up."

"She hoped you would come back for her." Prime continued. Catra's claw drew blood under her chin as the hand holding Adora let go. "You should have seen the light die in her eyes when it finally hit her that you were abandoning her again."

"I said, shut up!" Adora launched off her knees and threw herself at Prime, wrapping her hands around his neck. But when her sense returned and she found herself choking Catra, her grip loosened.

Prime struck then. He lashed out, Catra's claws shredding through the front of Adora's jacket before she could push him away. The last piece of Etheria she carried with her, destroyed. He was determined to take everything.

"Your pathetic resistance is useless." Prime taunted, his voice slipping into Catra's. "Don't struggle, Adora. Come into the light with me." Adora's fingers tingled and the sword appeared in her hand, rocketing her height up and letting her stand above Prime. From the look in his eyes, she could tell he hated it.

"I do so wish this form was a little taller." He lamented, back to his own voice. Adora leveled her sword at him.

"Get out of her, now." Adora's tone was low and menacing. The same growl caused evildoers to sign peace treaties without a single spoken threat or show of force. Prime just laughed Catra's laugh. 

"Or you'll what?" Catra's voice sounded so wrong when he used it. He spread her arms and started to walk towards Adora. He didn't stop when he reached her sword point, slowly forcing Catra's chest into the tip. "You could never kill her, and if you did, I would only inhabit my next vessel. You would be no closer to vengeance and have to live with your beloved Catra skewered on your sword. You would never."

Adora knew it was true. Catra's white uniform was starting to redden and Adora yanked the point out of her friend before tossing the blade aside. Prime struck again, and they battled wordlessly before Adora grabbed Catra's wrists and held her tightly. She couldn't hurt Catra, but she wouldn't let Prime use Catra's body to harm Adora if she could help it. He broke Catra's wrist to escape Adora's hold and raked her claws against Adora's face. She-Ra flickered at the sight of Catra's mangled wrist. Prime was hurting her and laughing as though he felt none of the pain inflicted on his stolen body. _Don’t you fade on me._ Whether she was talking to She-Ra, Catra, or even herself, Adora didn’t know. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind.

"I'll kill you," Adora promised. Prime laughed Catra's laugh.

"Go ahead." He kneed her in the stomach and dragged her to the edge of the platform. Prime held the mighty She-Ra in Catra's hands and dangled her over the pit into the ship's bowels. Adora's forehead was smeared with blood from slamming it on the ground after a good punch from Prime. Catra never punched. That was one more unnatural thing he was doing with her body.

"Now that I have the mighty She-Ra, but no Heart of Etheria to control with her, what can I do with her?" Prime mused aloud. Adora clutched at the hands holding her, soft fur grazing her palms. "You Etherians have little use on your own, but I am not wasteful. Perhaps I'll add you to my collection. The looks on the faces of rebels as they see She-Ra herself leading my armies would be a welcome sight. Then, when I'm done with this vessel, I could have you dispose of it yourself. In my light, you'd be more than happy to rid yourself of this attachment."

"You'll never win." Adora choked out. An idea started forming in her brain out of nowhere. She-Ra was sharing her knowledge again.

"And why is that?" he seemed genuinely curious.

"You touched her." Adora grabbed Catra's face, causing Prime to rear back. She-Ra's power flowed from her fingertips into Prime, forcing him from Catra's body and into nothingness, where he belonged. Catra slumped like her strings had been cut, and Adora held her old friend and enemy close to her chest. Her eyes had turned solid white instead of their usual colors, but Adora wasn't worried. Her healing magic was hard at work and soon Catra would be awake, probably saying something infuriating like-

"Hey, Adora." Adora looked down at the little body curled into her chest and couldn't stop a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Rewatched Save The Cat five times to write this. I would have done it anyway (it's my favorite episode), but I'm happy for an excuse. Did anyone see the original script Noelle posted the other day? It’s so much gayer and I just love it SO MUCH!  
> On a less happy note, I wrote half of this and wanted to start over, so my computer decided to do my work for me and crash before I could save. Luckily, I like this draft better overall, though there was good some stuff in the first one I would have liked to use. Sigh.  
> This wasn't supposed to be this long since I just wanted to explore what it would be like if Prime went through with his plans to inhabit Catra. But I like the world I made, so I'd like to do another few fics in this universe. I have an idea for one of Catra learning to live with her new body and rekindling things with Adora, since Catradora owns my soul. Let me know if you're interested or if you have moments in this canon you’d like to see.


End file.
